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Teen's death highlights need to make our roads, drivers safer

Posted: Wednesday, June 26, 2002

The tragic death of another 16-year-old in a one-car, speeding accident recently reminds us again that driving is the most significant responsibility young people take on early in life. Short of raising the driving age until the young people are more mature, which should be done, there are only a few avenues the community can take to reduce accident risk.

First, rigorous driver's education should be mandatory. I underscore RIGOROUS because the programs I've seen have been superficial.

Second, parents need to better monitor/control their children's access to driving, especially at ages 16 and 17. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Third, parents need to be excellent role models themselves. The driving by adults I've observed in Athens has been appalling -- especially speeding, tailgating and running red lights.

Fourth, the police need to enforce speed limits more. Currently, a frontier mentality seems to prevail in Athens -- whatever speed you can get away with -- because of little enforcement.

What is at stake is not just the lives of the youth, but everyone else who is on the roads. This is, indeed, an awesome responsibility.